Interesting tidbit - 21 (Mark 2:22)

Q:  Is the new wine in Mark 2:22 the dispensation of grace?

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins Mark 2:22).

A:  No, the dispensation of grace was a mystery that was not revealed until Paul (Eph 3:1-3). That means it cannot be found hidden in the Lord’s parables, for it was still "not made known" at that time (Eph 3:1-9).

Wine is a type of the Holy Spirit, for both are associated with joy (Zech 10:7; 1 Thes 1:6), and new wine is a type of the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. You’ll remember that when the apostles were "filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:4), men thought that they were “filled with new wine" (Acts 2:13). 

With the parable of the wineskins, the Lord was saying that the new wine of the Holy Spirit could not be put into the "old wineskins" of Israel's religious leaders; it must rather be put in the "fresh wineskins" of His "little flock" (Luke 12:32). 

New wine is first mentioned in the Bible when Israel was gathered back into her land after her captivity (Neh 10:39; 13:5,12), a type of Israel's future gathering back into her land for the kingdom, and so it is associated with the kingdom that was taken from Israel's apostate leaders and given to the little flock (Matt 21:43). New wine was withheld from Israel when she rebelled against God (Isa 24:7; Hos. 9:2; Joel 1:5,10; Hag 1:11) and was given when she was obedient (Prov 3:5-10), and so it will be given in the kingdom (Joel 3:18; Zech. 9:17; Matt 26:29) when God's Spirit will "cause" them to walk in His ways (Ezek 36:27).

The Lord's Prayer - Matthew 6:9-13

Why do so many sincere believers repeat over and over again prayers that have been prepared for them to recite?

Undoubtedly the greatest number of all make it a practice to recite The Lord’s Prayer. I think they must have overlooked that He said, "Pray then like this." (Matt 6:9), not "recite this prayer."

The reason for this seems obvious; there is no one prayer that fits every occasion.

Not only that, The Lord’s Prayer fit perfectly into the circumstances then, but imperfectly fits ours today. One example of this is at the close of His earthly ministry our Lord gave His disciples further instruction about prayer.

Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf" (Jn 16:24-26).

After the Lord’s ascension into heaven the disciples were to make their requests to the Father in Christ's name. This in itself would have excluded their (and our) reciting The Lord's Prayer. 

Another example of how circumstances have changed from the time of the Lord's Prayer to now can be clearly seen in verses 12, 14 and 15 of Matthew 6:

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors (Matt 6:12).

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matt 6:14-15).

But look at what Paul says about forgiveness AFTER Christ's death and resurrection:

Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive (Col 3:13).

Why the difference?  Because when Jesus Christ walked the earth, people were still under the Law.  In fact, our Lord ramped up the Law, as my Pastor so well explains.  While the Law said "You shall not murder" Jesus said "You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire" (Matt 5:21-22).   

Of course we now know that the Law was given to show us our need for a Savior:  

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin (Rom 3:18-20).

We also know that we are not under the Law today:  

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith (Rom 3:21-25; cf Rom 7:4-6; Eph 2:14-16).

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace (Rom 6:14).

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian (Gal 3:24-25).

Yet both Protestants and Catholics still make much of repeating The Lord's Prayer, saying it in unison in sickness and death, in drought and storm, in peace and war, etc... with almost no regard to its contents.

What a difference there is between praying and "saying prayers."

Why do people reject God?

A man rejects God neither because of intellectual demands nor because of the scarcity of evidence.  A man rejects God because of moral resistance that refuses to admit his need for God.

Ravi Zacharias

Truth

If truth doesn't exist, then it would be true that truth doesn't exist, and once again we arrive at truth.  There is no alternative, truth must exist.

Nabeel Qureshi

The Middle of the Road

The middle of the road is a poor place to walk.  It is a poor place to drive.  It is a poor place to live.

Vance Havner

Thoughts on a Sunday morning - Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

As believers, what should be our response to this passage? Are we to work to obtain these things? Or rejoice because we already have them?


1. Peace with God - This passage says "since we have been justified" (past tense - already done), we have peace with God." = a done deal, we already have it

2. Stand in grace - This passage says "we have also obtained access (past tense - already obtained) by faith into this grace in which we stand." = a done deal, we're already there

3. Hope of the glory of God - This passage says "we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." This hope is not an uncertain thing, not something we really wish for but aren't sure we'll get. This hope of the glory of God is a sure thing (c.f., Rom 8:24-25; Col 1:27; Heb 11:11). = a done deal, though still in the future

4. Suffering produces endurance, character, and hope - This passage does not say we may experience sufferings. It assumes that we will. But even though sufferings are a sure thing, we know that God works everything together for good (c.f., Rom 8:28) = a done deal, we will experience suffering in this broken world but good will come of it

5. God's love in our hearts - This passage says that God's love has already been poured into our hearts. Why? Because we have been justified by faith and have peace with God (go back to verse 1). The love of God is already in our hearts. = a done deal, we already have it

6. Saved from the wrath of God - This passage says that since we have been (past tense) justified by His blood, we will be saved from the wrath of God by His life. = a done deal, though still in the future

7. Reconciled to God - This passage says "we were reconciled to God (past tense) by the death of His Son" AND "we have now received reconciliation" (past tense) "through our Lord Jesus Christ." We are already reconciled to God. = a done deal, we already are


So what don't we have that still needs to be worked for? Nothing! This passage tells us we already have it all. We may not always FEEL like we do, but feelings are fleeting. We can't rely on them. We can, however, rely on the word of God.

So take God at His word (faith), and REJOICE!


Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer (Rom 12:12).

Divine Communication - feelings and impressions

Not long ago while researching the subject of prayer I came across a paper that directed me to a November 2003 article in Christianity Today entitled "Mr. Jabez Goes to Africa." In it Bruce Wilkinson, author of "The Prayer of Jabez", relates how he came to minister in Africa. Wilkinson says he had a sort of 'burning bush' experience at a Wendy’s restaurant. He confesses he was stunned when he realized that he may have just had a conversation with God, explaining that after he asked, "God, tell me what do you want me to do," he sensed God’s reply: "I want you to keep the Great Commission." But did he really have a dialogue with God?

I’ve been thinking about this subject quite a bit lately. The puzzling thing about Bruce Wilkinson is that his conservative evangelical approach to the Bible scarcely puts him in the charismatic camp, so where did this come from? He's far from being the only one, though. I hear similar things said all the time, from pulpits and lay people alike. And certainly the amount of information and themes about God speaking to individuals today — both directly and indirectly — in Christian books and literature increases with each passing year. I imagine Christians everywhere must be asking themselves: "Could this kind of thing happen to me?" "Or does this only happen to ‘superstar’ Christians?" "And why didn’t God respond to me when I asked that question?" "Wasn’t I listening?" "Don't I have enough faith?" "Am I unworthy?"

I think Dave Swavely in his book “Decisions, Decisions” makes an excellent point when he says, "Christians...are not content to make their choices based on the principles in the revealed Word, but want God to give them some more specific information, direction, or guidance." But why do we want this? And is God giving new revelation today — even though the canon has been completed? Does He communicate with us through feelings and impressions?

The truth is, these 'experiences' cannot be supported with Scripture. The Bible never instructs or encourages us to look for, listen to, or follow inner promptings or impressions. And there are adequate examples of satanic influence in Scripture to cause us to view any we might have with suspicion. Sure we all have inner promptings and impressions. We're human after all. Good and bad desires come and go. But I don't believe they should be interpreted as signs from God — not even the good ones. Certainly an example to us would be Paul’s desire to take the gospel to Asia (Acts 16:7), and to visit the saints at Thessalonica (1 Thes 2:17-18) and Rome (Rom 1:13). That was obviously a good desire. But it didn't work out because of circumstances. Good desires are just that — good desires. The Bible, wisdom, common sense, and wise counsel, must always be the primary guides for our decisions and actions.

But certainly we should be led by the Spirit, right? Actually, there are only two references that talk about this regarding the life of the believer — Romans 8:14 and Galatians 5:18. It's because of these two verses that we use the phrase ‘led by the Spirit’ as rationale for proceeding with a course of action. And once we say "The Spirit led me" or "God led me", it automatically becomes the uncontested ‘will of God.’ I mean really, who can argue with that?

The problem with using the phrase "led by the Spirit" like this is that in context, Romans 8:14 and Galatians 5:18 have nothing to do with guidance or making decisions. When we look at these passages as a whole, we see that they are contrasting the lifestyle of the old nature with that of the new nature. Choosing to live in our new nature is the same as being led by the Spirit. Maybe if we understood spirituality as godliness, we would not so readily confuse it with mysticism.

Sadly, however, we rarely use doctrine to govern and interpret experience anymore. Rather, we use application and experience to control interpretation. In other words, we assign meanings to Scripture instead of allowing the writer to do so. We also give multiple meanings to a single passage, the key interpretive question being "What does it mean to me?" rather than "What did the author intend his readers to know or do?"

Don't get me wrong, I’m sure few of us have any intention of putting subjective mysticism on the same level with the written Word of God. It's just that it's so easy for even the best-intentioned Christian to get caught up in an emotional experience due to exposure to non-biblical philosophy. In fact, our evangelical culture has become so ingrained with such spiritual language as: "I have peace about it," "I was praying and sensed God speaking to me," "I feel like this is what God would have me do," and "I sense that the Holy Spirit is leading me," that it is difficult to break away from this way of thinking. Along these same lines, I don't think circumstances and so-called open or closed doors should be our guiding factors either. For example, Jonah found a boat going to Tarsus, but that was hardly divine guidance (Jonah 1). The major concern with all of this will always be the lack of objectivity. And because of its subjectivity, it can easily lead us into false doctrine and sinful actions.

This is why I have concluded that impressions, promptings and feelings should not be considered the voice of God or a source of truth. I know this is contrary to majority evangelical opinion today, but to me, viewing them as divine communication is a kind of counterfeit spirituality that has the potential to side-track us from letting all Scripture thoroughly equip us for every good work (2 Tim 3:16-17).